Police report separate shooting incidents

ELYRIA — A 13th Street resident is counting his blessings and thanking a friend for a well-timed phone call after a bullet whizzed through his bedroom on Thursday, barely missing him. “I was in the bedroom standing up when the phone rang, so I answered it and lied down on the bed to talk to a friend,” Raymone Sydnor, 27, said. “Less than a minute later, I heard a pop, so I ducked down and saw that something burst through my drywall.” After rushing his three children upstairs to safety, Sydnor returned to the bedroom to find a dent on the back wall, a few inches away from where he had been standing, and the remains of a bullet lying on the bed. “If it hadn’t have been for that phone call, that bullet would have gone right into my head,” Sydnor said. The shooting took place about 11:20 p.m. Thursday near the corner of West Avenue and 13th Street on the city’s south side. Sydnor immediately called police, who recovered the bullet and began canvassing the area. During that time, police learned that another bullet entered a home on West Avenue. “The bullet did come in through my window, but I don’t want to talk about it,” the 72-year-old West Avenue resident said Monday. Further investigation revealed that there were two additional bullets lodged into the side of the West Avenue woman’s home. No one was injured from any of the shots, and police are still investigating the case, but it was enough to spook Sydnor. “This is a quiet part of town, and I have no idea what it was about,” Sydnor said. “I was in the Air Force, so just knowing how bullets work, I would have to guess that they shot from pretty far away. Otherwise the bullet would have gone through the back wall as well.” None of the residents in the area saw anyone out on the street around the time of the shooting, according to police, and there were no suspects as of Monday. It was the second shooting police responded to on the city’s south side in five days, after officers responded to a shooting at 11:30 p.m. July 15 on Middle Avenue in the Budget Auto parking lot. John Williams, 18, of Elyria, told police a former classmate of his, David Hollis, 18, of Elyria, fired several shots at him while he was standing in the parking lot. Williams said Hollis and two unknown men had assaulted him earlier in the day. Police tracked down Hollis a few blocks from the site of the shooting around Middle Avenue and Seventh Street. Hollis was out of breath and sweating and attempted to step away from officers repeatedly. Hollis was charged with obstructing official business, but has not been charged with the shooting. One man, David Williams, 19, of Lorain, who was standing with Williams in the parking lot, said a bullet grazed his hand after it ricocheted off of the ground, but he declined medical treatment and could not be reached for comment Monday. Police also responded to a suspected firing of a gun at 3:20 a.m. Sunday on the city’s north side at 1100 Oakwood Drive. Eric Puckett, 26, of Elyria, was charged with obstructing official business, stolen property and firing a weapon while intoxicated. Police responded to Puckett’s address after a neighbor called police and found the suspect holding a silver revolver in the backyard behind his apartment. Police ordered Puckett to drop the gun, but he fired a shot away from the officers and ran toward his apartment, firing two more shots in the process before he threw the gun into the woods behind his apartment. Police broke into the home and subdued Puckett and placed him in custody. Police located the revolver in the woods, which was listed as stolen from Sterling Heights, Mich. Police found another loaded automatic pistol in the house that was licensed to Puckett. Contact Joe Medici at 329-7152 or jmedici@chroniclet.com.